The invention relates to a baling press for forming bales of agricultural crop, comprising an essentially horizontal longitudinal compression chamber with an intake aperture provided on its underside, a press slide which can be moved to and fro in the longitudinal direction in front of the intake aperture in the compression chamber, an intake duct which is connected to the intake aperture of the compression chamber, the section of the intake duct on the side of the compression chamber intake aperture sloping upwards, a pick-up device fitted in the vicinity of the take-up area of the intake duct and at least one intake element which projects into the intake duct through a side wall and can be moved in the longitudinal direction of the intake duct.
Many embodiments of such a baling press are known in practice. In all embodiments, the crop lying on the land is taken up by means of the pick-up device and introduced continuously into the intake duct. The intake element which operates in the upwardly-sloping section of the intake duct, at regular intervals and in a number of steps, collects a certain amount of the crop present in the intake duct in the section of the intake duct which slopes upwards and is connected to the intake aperture of the compression chamber, and subsequently introduces this amount of crop into the compression chamber via the intake aperture. At the end of each collecting step, the intake element moves out of the intake duct. Consequently, for a short period of time, the crop collected in the upwardly-sloping section of the intake duct is not supported and as a result, it has a tendency to slide back into the intake duct. This is a major disadvantage with all known baling presses of the kind mentioned at the outset.